Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Design and Initial Flight Tests of a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Unmanned Air Vehicle

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2010

Journal Title

ECS Transactions – 2009 Fuel Cell Seminar and Exposition

Volume

26

Issue

1

First Page

17

Last Page

19

DOI

10.1149/1.3429016

Abstract

A fuel cell powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV) named Kenyalang-1 was designed, built, and flight-tested at the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Shah Alam, Malaysia. The UAV is propeller-driven by a DC brushless motor, powered by a 500 W proton exchange membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cell. The objective was to demonstrate the design and technological challenges involved and determine the relative merits or shortcomings that fuel cell electrically-powered propulsion systems have over conventional systems. This paper describes the UAV design (airframe, propulsion, and avionics) and measured performance during initial flight tests. The results of this analysis will be used to improve the UAV and power plant system for future production models.

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